How Many Championships did Larry Bird win?

Larry Bird is one of the greatest NBA players of all time. His accolades are countless, with the former Indiana State man being an NBA legend. There are so many different titles that Bird has.

How Many Championships did Larry Bird win? Larry Bird won three NBA championships in his basketball career. Bird does not have any titles outside of the NBA, despite making the NCAA tournament final in 1979.

That NCAA tournament final is one of the most iconic games in college basketball history. It was the beginning of one of the most legendary basketball rivalries in the history of the NBA, with Bird and Magic Johnson facing off against each other for the first time. Magic’s Michigan State team won the game 75-64, preventing Bird from winning a title for Indiana State. Both these players were representing teams from their home States, adding extra spice to the whole thing.

Larry Bird’s NBA titles

This struggle did not deter Bird. In his second season with the Celtics, Boston finished first in the East as they had done the previous year. As the reigning rookie of the year, Bird led the Celtics to the finals, beginning with a sweep of the Bulls. After a tough seven game series in the conference finals against the Sixers, Boston advanced to the finals to face the Rockets. Bird’s great performances in games one and six helped lead the Celtics to the title and Bird claimed his first NBA Championship in 1981.

Three seasons later, the Celtics were in the finals again and this time they faced the Los Angeles Lakers and Magic Johnson for the first time. Thanks in main to two close overtime wins, Boston won the series in seven games despite Bird struggling in the deciding game. By the end of the 1984 season Bird had won his second NBA title, both with the Celtics.

Bird’s third and final NBA championship came in 1986. The Celtics had lost to the Lakers in the finals the previous year, but this time their opposition was the Houston Rockets. The Celtics won the series, with Bird getting a triple double in the deciding game six. It brought Bird his third and final NBA Championship.

Despite playing for another five seasons after his last title, Bird would retire with three NBA championships. The big reason of course for this is Magic Johnson and the Lakers. The Lakers defeated the Celtics in the finals twice, preventing Bird from having any more NBA titles.

How many NBA Finals did Larry Bird get to?

In total, Larry Bird went to five NBA finals in his career. The three finals victories are outlined above, but Bird also had two finals losses. The first happened in 1985, a year after the Celtics had defeated the Lakers in the finals. It was the same matchup with pretty much the same teams.

Despite the similarities, the Lakers won the series in six games. The Celtics struggled to slow down finals MVP Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bird struggled compared to his incredibly high standards. It gave Bird his first finals loss in his third appearance. It did not slow Bird down as he won a title the next season with the now legendary ‘86 Celtics.

Two years after his first finals loss to the Lakers, the re-match was on. The 1987 NBA Finals again saw the Los Angeles Lakers up against Bird’s Celtics. The Celtics had hope they could avenge the loss of two years prior. With Kareem ageing, the Celtics hoped that they could win the finals. However, this was not the case.

Bird’s missed game winner in game four turned out to be vital in the series as the Lakers did not let their 3-1 lead slip, winning the series in six games. Despite good performances from Bird, Magic Johnson outplayed him as the jumbo sized Lakers guard won finals MVP. This was Bird’s last finals appearance, meaning that he went to five NBA finals overall, winning 3.

How Many MVPs has Larry Bird won?

In his career, Larry Bird won three NBA regular season MVP awards. His first MVP award was in 1984. Having finished second in MVP voting the prior year, Bird dominated the season and the voting. The Celtics star received 52 first placed votes, with second place Bernard King only getting eleven.

Bird averaged 24.2 points,10.1 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game in the 1983-84 season. His performances helped to take the Celtics to 62 wins in the regular season, topping the NBA. Being the reigning MVP, there were big expectations for Bird in the 1984-85 season. Throughout the season, he showed that he was the reigning MVP and had an excellent statistical season.

Bird averaged 28.7 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.6 assists across the regular season as the Celtics once again topped the eastern conference. His performances included scoring 60 points against the Hawks which is still a Boston record to this day. These performances earned Bird his second MVP award.

Coming off the back of a disappointing loss to the Lakers in the finals, many people saw Bird taking a step back going into the 1985-86 season. Despite a back injury in the 1985 offseason, Bird averaged 25.8 points, 9.8 rebound and 6.8 assists per game and for the third straight season, the Celtics finished top of the Eastern Conference.

His individual performance was recognised all across the NBA as he helped Boston to a then record breaking 67-15 regular season record. In MVP voting, Bird dominated the competition as he took home his third straight MVP award. Bird became only the third player in NBA history to win three titles in a row.

Did Larry Bird win any College Championships

In Bird’s career with Indiana State he did not ever win a championship. In 1974, Bird received a scholarship to play basketball at Indiana University but struggled to adapt to the large student population. He instead enrolled at the smaller Indiana State University.

Even from his first season with Indiana State, Bird’s performances were exceptional. Despite excellent performances in his first two seasons, Indiana State had very little success. However, this changed in the 1979 season when Bird’s Indiana State qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.

After going 33-0, Bird led his team to the final of the tournament where he faced off against Magic Johnson and Michigan State. Sadly for Bird, Michigan State were just too much for him as the Spartans ran out 75-64 winners. This was Bird’s last season with Indiana State as he had been drafted by the Celtics in 1978, but chose to play out one final year with his college instead of going straight to the NBA.

Bird’s college career as a whole was exceptional. He averaged 30.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game across his three seasons, winning Naismith College Player of the Year in 1979. Despite this, Bird did not win any championships during his college career.

Did Larry Bird win any NBA championships as a coach?

Larry Bird won three championships as a player, but did not win any as a coach. Bird retired from the NBA in 1992 and immediately took up an advisory role with the Boston Celtics. He held this role for five seasons before being offered the Indiana Pacers head coach role. Bird was very honest when taking up the role saying he would only coach the team for three years.

Bird created a very good team. In his first season as Pacers coach, Indiana finished third in the east, having finished tenth the prior season. The Pacers had two pretty comfortable series to begin the 1998 post season with wins over the Cavaliers and the Knicks.

As with many teams in the 1990s, the Pacers were stopped by the Chicago Bulls, losing the series in seven games as the Bulls did not lose a home game in the series. A year later, the Pacers would not have to worry about Michael Jordan as they returned to the playoffs, this time as the second seed in the east.

Bird’s Pacers swept the Bucks and the Sixers in the first two rounds of the playoffs and looked likely to make it to the finals as they came up against the eight seed New York Knicks in the conference finals. Sadly for Bird, the Pacers lost the series in six games.

In his last season as the team’s head coach, Bird’s Pacers were the number one seed in the east and were not really tested throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs. The Pacers got their revenge on the Knicks, winning the eastern conference finals in six games to go up against the Lakers.

Unfortunately for the Pacers and Larry Bird, the Lakers were just too much for the Pacers. Despite home wins in games three and five, the Pacers lost the series in six games, with Shaq and Kobe just being too much for Indiana’s stars. Despite just reaching the finals, Bird stuck to his word and resigned shortly after the finals, taking up the role of Pacers president of basketball operations in 2003.

So as it seems unlikely for Bird to ever coach again, Larry Bird has never won a championship as a coach.